We talk to the founder of one Belfast charity benefiting from Vodafone’s charities.connected free mobile connectivity initiative.
Jahswill Emmanuel was the victim of a racial attack that resulted in his jaw being broken. For most of us, this shocking experience would have knocked our confidence, made us fearful and even bitter.
But former security officer Jahswill forgave his attacker, believing it resulted from ignorance and prejudice rather than outright racism. And in 2016 he decided to set up a charity to help people from ethnic minority backgrounds, refugees and asylum seekers, integrate with the local communities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he made his home 18 years ago.
No small challenge in a region scarred by its own history of sectarian violence.
Credits: MSCNI
The Multi-ethnic Sports and Cultures Northern Ireland (MSCNI) charity started with a football tournament involving local kids, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Some 300 to 400 took part, encouraging Jahswill to carry on.
Now the sporting events are supplemented by cultural activities, from drumming workshops to African dancing, poetry to singing, and the charity hosts “15 to 20 communities”, he says.
“This is our thing, bringing people together, young and old, and giving them new experiences to try, celebrating diversity.”
Covid interrupted their programme, but the charity simply pivoted to delivering food to families in need.
“We assisted well over 2,000 families,” he says.
Essential connectivity
Then Jahswill came across Vodafone’s charities.connected initiative, which distributes free SIM cards loaded with 20GB of data and unlimited calls and texts for six months to charities needing help with their connectivity. It’s part of Vodafone’s wider everyone.connected campaign, which aims to connect one million digitally excluded people by the end of 2022.
He’s been able to give out more than 100 SIMs to the people MSCNI supports, he says.
“The Vodafone charities.connected scheme has been very popular,” says Jahswill. “It’s been great to see the joy in their faces, because this means a lot to them at a time when prices are going up.
